Rating: 
Summary: Pure Poetic Imagery Counter-Balanced With Raw Reality
Review: If an author were able to write a novel directly from her subconscious, it would be unique indeed. Consider that every previous author who ever took pen to paper or struck a key on a typewriter or a computer as an expression of their art always did so in a conscious (more or less) state. This is why Arundhati Roy's gift of The God of Small Things is so exceptional.Ms. Roy captures the mood of early morning dreaming and late night angst, the illusions of childhood and the disappointment of adult reality in a distinct way. She writes in a gossamer style, like from the subconscious, with a dreamlike quality. The story floats from a child's non-comprehension of events to an adult's non-comprehension of those same events. The burden of those childhood memories is not made lighter by time or maturity. She poses a nice question: are we ever free of that we first witnessed, free of our earliest guilt, free of our childhood demons, free of all those images which we lacked the psychological development to decipher and distill with truth? Well, her characters could not. She breathes life into all of her characters. Nor only do we get to know them, but we are easily made to empathize with them. The childish comprehension of Estha and Rahel of the events precipitating around them and the inevitable scar tissue from the wounds freely inflicted by a structured class culture, tumultuous times, jealous relatives and tragic happenstance makes a compelling story. The very first observation the reader will make is actually a "wonder", as in I "wonder" how this author sustains such an endless parade of vivid and perceptive images. Consider Velutha's paralyzed brother: "Kuttappen lay flat on his back and watched his youth saunter past without stopping to say hello... Kuttappen coughed like his mother used to, and his upper body bucked like a just-caught fish. His lower body lay like lead, as though it belonged to someone else. Someone dead whose spirit was trapped and could not get away... Insanity hovered close at hand like an eager waiter at an expensive restaurant (lighting cigarettes, refilling glasses). Kuttappen thought with envy of madmen who could walk. He had no doubts about the equity of the deal; his sanity for serviceable legs." So many really great writers really get their creative sparks in here and there, but Roy gives us a book drenched so completely in provocative images that the reader marveling page after page has to say "Wow" out of respect for her creativity and imagination. The book is an interesting mix of social commentary, travelogue and human emotion. As an American, I am filled to the brim with commentary about the worthlessness of our gun toting, materialistic, valueless society. So I was refreshed to read that a more ancient society was just as dysfunctional in its own distinct ways. Even so, I was fascinated by the intricacy of the Indian society, dependably depicted I am sure. If I were to be lucky enough to go to India, I would feel at least that I saw a pretty good preview. So, as a travelogue, the book was worthy. Partially through the book, the foreboding of the impending events was somewhat disturbing. After all I am reading this brilliant new author, why isn't there a trace of optimist? She chose instead to be raw and revealing. Certain pages, I hated to turn the pages (but I did). I did not want the inevitable to occur (but it did). This is a work of pure poetic imagery counter-balanced with raw reality - one in which I see shades of Blake and Faulkner, Poe and Dickens, but with something missing. I can not accept that life is so flawed...practically all the characters, institutions (marriage, parents, religious clerics, police, government officials) and even societies (Indian, American and British) are portrayed as wholly without redeeming features. The one spark of life, the talented and the beautiful Velutha was both crushed in real life and even disfigured in dream life (the lover without an arm, a clever symbolic depiction of a flawed (wrong class) lover). I wonder if this author will put her terrific talent into a theme of hope, enlightenment or enchantment. She has ably demonstrated that she can drag our emotions into the dark side, but can she bring us back into the light?
Rating: 
Summary: Jasperreader
Review: The book was well written but the story, itself, was not enjoyable. Dysfunctional people raising two children who, in turn, are dysfunctional....
Rating: 
Summary: Not worthwhile
Review: I highly recommend that this book be avoided. I read it on the recommendations that I saw here and heard in person. It is not very interesting. The main characters are so steeped in abuse that they are almost unbelievable. The title mislead me to believe that if I made it to the end, there would be something positive after all the tragedy that occurs, but there was only more tragedy and dispair.
Rating: 
Summary: Travel to exotic places-visit with interesting people
Review: This is unique literary accomplishment. The author's lyrical narrative flows as a stream of consciousness revelation. Her sentence structure has poetic license. Time is fluid. We are offered intriguing glimpses of her characters who describe themselves at one point as characters in a play. With her chapters as scenes, Ms. Roy draws us deeper and deeper into her book with the plot she spins. Her characters are interesting and the locale is exotic. They are Untouchables and Touchables, third world Communists, inbred Syrian Christians- Indians with modern attitudes that carry the influences of a colonial past, Marxism, and American culture impinging on the third world in a set compete with native fauna and flora to add to the fascination. I especially enjoyed her droll humor-the irony she sees in small things and everyday situations. Overall however,the book's focus is several tragedies that are interconnected and their lifelong effects on the characters. As she says: "Life can change in a moment." There is a lot of depth and meaning-take your time with these 321 pages...
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Astounding
Review: Roy's mastery of metaphor and creativity in wordplay may just be among the best in the English language today. In The God of Small Things she tells a haunting tragedy in hauntingly beautiful prose that borders on poetry. Almost every scene painted itself visibly in my mind, but in particular I find myself dwelling on the OrangedrinkLemondrink Man, and on the airport scene: Ambassadors E. Pelvis and S. Insect; Rahel wrapping herself in the dirty curtain to escape the reeling changes in her life. I'm so impressed by Roy's ability to see a child's-eye view of the world, and it's so easy to believe that Rahel and Estha would assume that "love had been reapportioned." It's also a remarkable achievement in non-linear storytelling for a first-time novelist. Having said all that, I confess to loving non-linear narrative. If you don't like it, you probably won't think much of this book. Finally, and coincidentally, just before I read The God of Small Things I read Green English, by linguist Loreto Todd. It's a nonfiction book and I won't go into her thesis. But at one point she suggests that some of the best literature of the 20th century comes from countries where one language (usually a colonizing language, as in India, Ireland, New Zealand, numerous African countries...) has overlaid and been adapted to fit an earlier language, pushing the boundaries of expression. This book seems to me to be a prime example of that idea.
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Summary: A Corny, confusing,queer book
Review: Well here is my honest opinion about this much touted tale of twins. This is basically a cute sort of kiddish story which sounds profound and arty because it is confusing. It took me quite an effort to complete it. All because half baked characters keep popping in and out of the book. Now what happens to them nobody really knows, and beyond a point u dont even care. Maybe the whole idea was to be arty by being confusing.....
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Written
Review: Arundhati Roy has created a masterfully framed novel in which she explores the inner-emotions and events of an unconventional Indian family. Victims of circumstance, the individual members are forced to return home to each other and find that they no longer are a part of the society in which they live. Assumed to be living out the curses of the generations past, the twins the novel is centered around try to come to grips with the life they had led. Roy spins the story through flashbacks keeping the reader enthralled throughout the entire book. Piece-by-Piece the story of the forsaken family is revealed as Roy creates the setting through her wonderfully descriptive words. Roy uses her poetic talents to narrate a story so simple, and yet so intricate the reader's mind will be challenged. If nothing else, Arundhati Roy created a novel that most would enjoy.
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Summary: emotional rollercoaster
Review: For someone attempting to understand the limitations of love in the asian sub-continent this is a must read. Instead of giving a superficial account, Ms. Roy delves into the frustration of an emotionally restricted society, where too much is taboo. This is an extremely honest portrayal and a true eye-opener. Ms. Roy is a master storyteller and her metaphorical use of the English language is matched by few. Sheer poetry!
Rating: 
Summary: Powerful book - but not everyone will enjoy it.
Review: One of the biggest sensations when it came out, The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy's first novel, is set in her home state of Kerela, India. Sensations breed skepticism, especially when a first time author manages to steal the coveted Booker Prize, but in this case the book deserves much, though certainly not all, of its success, due to its creative use of plot, narrative technique, characterization and setting. Its themes are multifarious and fascinating: collective and individual identity, incest and other taboos about love, state and family politics, childhood trauma and loss of innocence, and structural determinism. (And even a bit about Oxford thrown in for good measure.) There are many characters in this story, and Roy balances them well, but at the centre stand the twins Estha and Rahel, whose unity is so complete that they experience life as the collective entity 'we'. Roy's story (and she tells it as a storyteller, using all the techniques at her disposal) is how doom comes on the twins and their family, indeed on a whole community, through a violation of the Love Laws, which govern who is to be loved and how much. Among other things, The God of Small Things is a scathing critique of this aspect of Indian society: what Roy sees as traditions and customs which limit people from natural acts of love and then destroy them when they inevitably violate these unwritten laws. No individuals are directly to blame for the doom that comes upon the characters in this story--the most negative character being simply a pathetic aunt; instead, their doom is inevitable and inescapable because of the structural laws that enchain society and restrict individual freedom. The book is powerful and creative, and a source of that power is Roy's strong voice, full of conviction and outrage. Ironically, it is this strength which leads to the major weaknesses of the book. To maintain a high level of suspense and impress on the reader the magnitude of what is happening, Roy resorts to abusive foreshadowing of the coming doom (one guesses at what it is about, but it is only revealed towards the end of the book) and dramatic capitalization to show that Something Is Really Important. (Many argue that this is to emphasize the children's viewpoint, but to this I can only say that if so, the style is highly inconsistent, since much of the story is not told through a child's viewpoint at all--the final scene is a powerful example; the voice throughout is rather that of the the external narrator, i.e. Roy herself). In any case, such techniques are unnecessary, and indeed annoying, since her creative manipulation of time in her narrative means that she writes around the actual event, giving us snippets of what happened after, what happened before, etc., without revealing what it was that actually happened. This would have been enough. Nevertheless, for most people these criticisms will not prove enough to mar an overall appreciation of this book, which is in any case no exercise in subtlety. If you can deal with Roy's strong voice (and some can't) as well as the occasional hit on the head with a sledgehammer, then you will probably enjoy this book, especially if you are interested in the themes of life in the sub-contintent.
Rating:
Summary: Decidedly mixed
Review: That explains my feelings of reading this book. Everything about this book screamed "NON-WESTERN!" The rhymes and puns and capitalized words that "interrupt" the narrative, a non-linear plot, and symoblism that symbolizes other symbols(!) For a few paragraphs, this was refreshing. But Roy's narrative technique -- taking a simple story, stuffing it in a cuisinart, and letting the resultant globs of narrative fall where they may -- seems to preclude a critical perspective on Indian history and Western cultural influence. Instead, the reader gets vertigo and is confused as to where to go and what to do -- the exact byproduct of a postmodern, multi-national capitalist world that she supposedly is criticizing.
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